Friday, December 16, 2011

Where voter registration fraud prevails, voter fraud likely prevails. Without the Texas ID bill, voter registration is the primary defense against fraud.VOCES Action stands strongly in educating Hispanics on the conservative issues, and I know, as a matter of fact, that Hispanics understand that to have transparency and integrity in elections, a photo voter ID is necessary. On December 13th, I was invited to speak at a rally sponsored by True the Vote, headed by Catherine Engelbrecht, a wonderful patriot. True The Vote, is an initiative developed by citizens for citizens, meant to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. The organization promotes ideas that actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation. I encourage each one of you to go to their website and to get involved: www.truethevote.org.

During the last Texas legislative session, both chambers were tasked by Gov. Rick Perry to make voter ID legislation a priority. The legislation passed, and the bill would require Texans to show a valid photo ID - such as a driver's license or state-issued ID card, a military ID or a passport - to vote.

Attorney General Eric Holder came to Austin on the 13th to speak at the LBJ Library to denounce the Texas voter ID laws and claimed that simple voter ID laws were somehow discriminatory. Holder ominously claimed that he would use the power of his office to “enforce civil rights protections” during the upcoming 2012 elections. This is abuse of power. I have followed this bill very closely since two sessions ago, and this session, I was very glad it passed to the help of all our Republicans legislators. I felt very pleased that Rep. Jose Aliseda (R-Beeville) who, like myself is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico, defended the bill strongly.

Here is the video and transcript of my speech. As I frequently do, at the end of my speech, I spoke for two minutes in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking media.

Good afternoon. I am here standing as a proud American. And also as a Hispanic American. I know that most Hispanics are hard working people, people of honesty and integrity and we are glad to be in the United States, a country that offers freedoms and opportunities not found in other countries. However, the freedoms we enjoy are fragile. They can be lost if we do not take a stand to defend them. Our freedoms depend on the integrity of our government and the integrity of our government rests on the integrity of our elections. Where there is voter fraud, this integrity is lost and all Americans suffer from this assault on our foundational freedoms. Let me be clear: Voter fraud is not a partisan issue; it is not a Republican versus Democrat issue. Voter fraud is not an issue about ethnicity or race, it's not a Hispanic, White or Black issue, It's not about social status! Whoever commits voter fraud is a criminal, whether a Democrat or Republican, white, black, Hispanic, rich or poor, and should be punished for their attack on this foundational freedom.

Some deny the reality of voter fraud, calling it a scare tactic. However, it is a fact and it should scare all Americans. In the last election, voter registration fraud happened on a large scale. In Pinellas County Florida, 803 people registered to vote whose address was the county jail or court house. In Wisconsin, 30,000 voter registrations were questioned after it was discovered felons were used as registration workers. In Pennsylvania 57,000 registrations were found to have falsification of information. And this is certainly happening in Texas. Dallas county had to stop using voter registration cards as a basis for calling jurors because the list of names on the voter registration lists contained too many people who were not US citizens. However, The full extent of voter registration fraud cannot be known - it is takes too much effort to investigate.

Where voter registration fraud prevails, voter fraud likely prevails. Without the Texas ID bill, voter registration is the primary defense against fraud. And it still is not a perfect defense. Unfortunately, is it very easy to get false voter registration cards. All you have to do is write down a bogus name and you get a registration card in the mail.

The Texas voter ID bill has one purpose: to limit voter fraud. It requires each person to show his or her identification with a photo and to match the name on the voter registration list. It is a simple and logical step to reduce voter fraud. So why has Attorney General Eric Holder come to Texas and voiced his opposition to this bill? He says that it discriminates against some voters. This is nonsense! It is the responsibility of the attorney general to uphold election laws that reduce fraud and corruption and voter ID is not an unreasonable burden on legal voters.

In Mexico, there are a lot more poor people than in the US and yet they require every voter to have a voter identification card. Mexico did this to combat the high degree of voter fraud that marked its elections in the past. And guess what? The voter identification card has greatly reduced voter fraud in Mexico. If Mexico can implement voter ID, I think the United States certainly can implement voter ID as well. If you do not have photo ID with you right now please raise your hand. If you would like one you can get one for free at the Department of Public safety.

This is not an unreasonable burden on legal voters. When honesty takes a second place in our hearts, we pull down everything good and noble that once surrounded us. We are trying to find out who is illegally engaging in voter fraud, no matter what color or ethnicity. It applies to ALL people, not just blacks and Latinos. We all have to show ID when we cash checks, drive a car, collect food stamps or get on an airplane. So why cannot we do the same for our elections, the foundational freedom of our country. Voter ID is a common sense, nonpartisan solution to a real problem. So why does Attorney General Eric Holder oppose it? Is he trying to divert attention from the failures of his administration of the Department of Justice? Is he trying to remove the heat from the "Fast and Furious" scandal? Is he trying to campaign for President Obama? All these are an abuse of the public office to which he was elected. The Attorney General has the job to defend justice, not oppose it. If he cares about the integrity of our elections, he would support the Texas voter ID bill.

And I will finish this speech by saying that I took an oath and this is my country and , THIS is my flag God bless America!

Click here to view the full 45 minute video of the rally.

Rep. Jose Aliseda had defended the bill on the floor and here are some excerpts from his speech during the last session:

"According to 2008 statistics, in one county, Goliad County, they had more people registered to vote than persons eligible to vote. Under current law, the opportunity for fraud is there."

"In 2008, a high water mark for voter registration, Texas had an overall registration rate of 76 percent of eligible voters. "

"In McMullen County, in 2008, had a voter registration of 97.9 percent, 21.4 percent above the state average. The opportunity for fraud is probably there."

"In Jim Wells County, , in 2008, had an eligible voter registration of 90.44 percent or 14 percent above the state average. The opportunity for fraud is probably there."

"In 2004, in Bee County, we had a woman cast a ballot as if she were her deceased mother."

"In 2007, the Texas State Auditor’s Office found that Texas had 49,049 registered voters who may have been ineligible to vote. Of those, there were 23,500 voters on the rolls who may have been deceased. Would Voter ID possibly have stopped them if they had tried to vote? I think so.There were 2,359 voters identified as having duplicate records. I believe Voter ID would have helped there also."

Adryana with VOCES ACTION

About Me

VOCES, the Spanish word for Voices, is an acronym for “Voices Offering Conservative Empowering Solutions.” VOCES Action (501(c)(4)non-profit organization. VOCES Action does Public advocacy to promote awareness of conservative fiscal and social issues, economic development,etc. We are aimed at communicating conservative values within the American community and through the Latino population. We educate and empower Latinos to express their conservative social, fiscal, and moral values in order to help our nation regain and preserve its moral heritage.